The amazing Latkes story: why potato pancakes are eaten on Hanukkah

After lighting a Hanukkah candle, which takes a couple of seconds, what would be logical to do next? There is! Of course there are latkes, writes CBS News. Crispy, fried, with a light aroma of onions, these potato pancakes with mouth-watering filling are popular with everyone.

Photo: video frame CBS News

Why latkes? The simple answer is that they are designed to remind the Jews of the miracle of Hanukkah. But this story is far from simple.

In 164 BC, a devout Jew who called himself Judas Maccabee and his followers overthrew the Greek king of Syria, who was trying to impose Greek customs and religion on the people of Israel. Hanukkah means initiation.

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“The holiday commemorates the victory of the Maccabees, who returned the temple to the Jews,” said Jane Cohen, a Jewish food historian and cookbook author. “And when they re-dedicated the temple and cleaned everything, they needed ritual oil for the candelabra, and the only ritual oil that was pure enough only lasted for one day.”

But miraculously, the candelabrum continued to burn for eight days. Centuries later, Jews were told to celebrate Hanukkah by eating food cooked in oil. But then again, why latkes?

This is where Judith appears in the story. “Judith was a wonderful widow,” Cohen said. “And she intended to tempt Holofernes, who kept the city of Betulia under siege. She made very salty pancakes, levivot, and filled them with salty cheese. And Holofernes, who was about to seduce or rape her, ate them. Because the pancakes were salty, he was so thirsty that he drank an incredible amount of wine, and eventually lost consciousness - at that moment this beautiful widow cut off his head!

“What does Judith have to do with Hanukkah?” asked correspondent Martha Teichner.

“This is where the weird part comes in,” Cohen said. “Nobody’s really sure how it got mixed.”

But it did, and in the Middle Ages, Jews in Italy ate cheese pancakes during Hanukkah.

We're getting to the topic of potatoes. Potatoes were cheap and, due to the poverty of Eastern European Jews, became a key ingredient in latkes (Yiddish for pancakes).

Niki Russ Federman is the owner of Russ & Daughters in New York City. For 105 years, her family has been involved in Jewish food. When Teichner asked how many latkes they make, Federman replied, “On a normal day, when there are no days off, we make 1 latkes a day. During Hanukkah - 000 per day."

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Latkes are made in small batches by hand.

“You’re communicating with your ancestors when you do this,” Federman said.

The secret to making latkes properly is to squeeze out the excess liquid.

Photo: video frame CBS News

The mixture is divided into cutlets, which are first fried in a pan and then deep-fried in oil (Russ & Daughters uses canola oil, aka rapeseed oil).

Latkes need to be eaten crispy and warm.

“The story of Hanukkah and latkes is a story of perseverance and a little bit of magic, and it’s a universal story,” Federman said.

Hanukkah is considered a minor holiday for Jews, but it has a meaning: the Talmud, the book of the laws of Judaism, indicates that during Hanukkah there should be no sorrows or fasting. Therefore, there is no problem if the latkes are good and there are many of them.

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